Recently Asked Questions

More than once we have received requests to provide digital copies of audio files from institutions that wish to make them accessible either through headphones or as ambient sound as parts of public exhibitions. The exhibitions presumably charge some sort of fee. We have had requests both for commercially released recordings and for archival, unpublished recordings for which we do not own either composer or performers rights, some of them dating prior to 1972.
Some of the questions raised from this issue: 

• What do requesting institutions have to do to acquire the necessary rights to play audio at their exhibitions?
• Does it matter if audio is provided via headphone or open speakers?
• Does it matter if an entire recording is played vs. an excerpt?
• Are excerpts of certain duration allowable regardless of securing permissions?
  If excerpts of a certain duration are allowed, is it the duty of the holding institution to create the audio files of the excerpted portion rather than providing the audio of an entire work?
• As many exhibitions occur at locations remote to the holding institution, actual on-site checks for compliance are prohibitive. Does this change anything in terms of how permission forms should be crafted?

A teacher would like to reprint a student workbook we can no longer find in print. We tried to get permission from the company that bought the publisher out, but they said they couldn’t help. At this point, can we prove that we have made a good faith effort to receive permission?

Patrons have suggested we provide photocopies of the daily crossword puzzles out of the newspaper because of other patrons doing the puzzle out of the library's current newspaper, thus ruining it for everyone else. We are told that some libraries provide this service, but we are concerned about the legality. Can you please advise us?

A law practice in is litigating a case.  They have contacted us asking for all relevant materials.

We have provided considerable materials from our records and archives, however, we have stopped short of providing a full digital copy of a book that might still be under copyright (based on publication date).

If they sent a representative to our archives, we would allow them access to the book.  They would be able to read it and even make their own copies of relevant sections.  I believe this is covered under the "fair use" provisions of the copyright law(?).

However, this is not the case, they want us to send them a full digital copy version of the book and I don't believe this is permissible under "fair use" or any other clause.  What is your understanding?

We’ve recently had some questions regarding the ability to provide access to dissertations, theses, and other cataloged graduate work.  How does the law govern these questions?